The mitral valve is one of the valves of the heart that keeps blood flowing in the proper direction when the heart beats and pushes the blood into the next chamber. Mitral Valve Prolapse is a common problem where the ‘leaflets’ of this valve don’t fit perfectly together and can lead to an abnormal backflowing of blood that causes problems in some people that experience this condition.

There have been a large number of studies showing that people with mitral valve prolapse have magnesium deficiency, but it’s extremely interesting to note that some studies have shown that chronic magnesium deficiency may have actually been the cause of the mitral valve prolapse in the first place!

Symptoms of Mitral Valve Prolapse

When mitral valve prolapse causes symptoms that affect people’s lives, then it is often termed Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome (MVPS) and it can lead to problems such as:

Shortness of breath

Chest pain

Heart Palpitations

Activity intolerance

Anxiety

These symptoms can really affect people’s lives in a negative way on a day to day basis. Those with MVPS go to the emergency room frequently and can sometimes feel that they are dying due to their severe symptoms.

The Magnesium Connection

There have been MANY studies showing that those with mitral valve prolapse often have low Magnesium Levels in their blood. This is especially interesting since blood magnesium levels are almost worthless and only show magnesium deficiency when levels are EXTREMELY low. This leads me to believe that if accurate intracellular magnesium testing (an accurate way to do magnesium testing) were used that even higher numbers of those with MVPS would show functional magnesium deficiency.

Several studies also show that these same people have fewer symptoms and better quality of life when they take magnesium supplementation on a regular basis. While this is interesting, it’s not very surprising to those who are familiar with the Signs of Magnesium Deficiency and actually see everyday that these types of symptoms, whether related to MVPS or not, resolve when high doses of magnesium are taken.

What IS interesting, however, is that some studies suggest that the magnesium deficiency may not be a result of the mitral valve prolapse, but that the mitral valve prolapse may actually have been CAUSED by the Magnesium Deficiency! This is possible because magnesium is required for the proper formation of collagen and collagen is a major component of heart valves. Therefore, a disruption of collagen formation could affect a wide variety of structures in the body, with heart valves only being one example.

Another example is the damage that is done to tendons when a class of drugs called Quinolone Antibiotics are taken. These drugs cause magnesium to be ‘chelated’ from the body and some people experience connective tissue pain, damage and even full tendon rupture after taking these drugs. My extensive studies have shown that the lack of magnesium causes many of the problems that make one vulnerable to this condition known as Levaquin Tendonitis.

But these studies that are showing that magnesium may actually disrupt collagen formation leading to Mitral Valve Prolapse makes me even more convinced that those susceptible to Levaquin Tendonitis likely have had a chronic magnesium deficit with subsequent collagen disruption for many many years before they were damaged by these antibiotics.

These findings make me more and more convinced that Dr. Carolyn Dean of The Magnesium Miracle and Dr. Mark Sircus the author of ‘Magnesium Medicine’ are correct in their assessment that magnesium deficiency is an ‘epidemic’ that is simply being overlooked by those in the health care industry due to their inability to recognize the many many symptoms of deficiency of this nutrient and the fact that the tests that they are using are outdated and completely inaccurate. If YOU are experiencing chronic health problems, could they be due to magnesium deficiency?

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Immune System
Side Effects

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Resources

Recent data on mitral valve prolapse and magnesium deficit.

Magnesium deficiency in the pathogenesis of mitral valve prolapse.

The importance of magnesium status in the pathophysiology of mitral valve prolapse

Neurotic, neuromuscular and autonomic nervous form of magnesium imbalance.

The newest guidelines for High Cholesterol levels and treatment are being embraced by some who don’t see cholesterol as being the huge cardiac risk factor that some organizations see it as. Some see the newest studies that have come out as better and more common sense guidelines for treating cholesterol than the “lower is better” crowd that give out the cholesterol lowering statin drugs to everyone with a cholesterol level over 150.

Essentially, for the past decade, we have been taught that cholesterol is bad and have been encouraged to get it as low as possible for health and to not eat cholesterol laden foods like shrimp lest it make our cholesterol levels go up even a smidge.

But there are those on the other side of this issue who question the lower is better theory. They see cholesterol as the precursor for every single hormone in the body, a requirement in order to make Vitamin D from sunlight and as a required component in every cell wall of the body. In fact, a former Heart Surgeon is taking on the notion that cholesterol is a problem at all! Take a look at why Dr. Lundell believes that Cholesterol is NOT a problem!

So there are doctors who are questioning whether we even SHOULD be lowering cholesterol in the first place. And a new study is finally shedding new on the ‘lower is better’ debate. The study is summarized in an easy to use guideline at the link below:

http://www.clinical-rounds.com/trigly.html

Essentially, they say to take your cholesterol levels and triglycerides and put it into a formula in order to find out your risk. You take your triglycerides and divide them by your HDL level. In other words, you do the following easy formula:

Triglycerides/HDL=___

Then use the following formula to find out your cardiovascular disease risk:

2 or less is considered ideal with the lower the number the better
2-4 = high risk
4-6  =very high risk

Check out this real life example of a 37 year old female (actually ME!). My:

Total Chol is 199
LDL is 127
HDL is 72
Trigly  are 83
CRP less than 1

According to the (hopefully soon to be abolished) thinking about cholesterol of ‘lower is better’, it’s likely that my doctor would have at least considered if not insisted upon a statin.

But according to this standard, I have very low risk with my Triglyceride/HDL ratio at 1.15 which is VERY low. My family history also agrees with this and I KNOW that I take care of myself VERY well so this article confirms what I already knew anyway. I love it when that happens.

Another study also showed that the C reactive protein, also called the CRP level- a marker of inflammation,  is really a more important predictor of heart disease than cholesterol. So my CRP of less than 1 also agree with the conclusion that I am at low risk for cardiovascular disease. And that’s also what Dr. Lundell writes about in The Great Cholesterol Lie. He believes that its INFLAMMATION that is the problem- NOT Cholesterol.

These are much more common sense and livable guidelines for Cholesterol levels that seem to work in real life situations much better than the practically unachievable and possibly detrimental ‘cholesterol level of 150 or less’ that gets just about everyone who sees their doctor on a cholesterol lowering statin drug.

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen

Functional Medicine Practitioner

Easy Immune Health.com

A new Study published HERE in the Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics claims to be the first to discover that a common supplement, Alpha Lipoic Acid, lowers cholesterol levels.
 

 
I find it interesting that they seem to think that this is a novel idea that no one has ever thought of before when there are PLENTY of studies that have already shown this. Like This Study done in Malaysia, This Study from China, This Study and This Study as well as This One done in the US.

 
 
Along with the cholesterol lowering effects that have been noted in Alpha Lipoic Acid, known as ALA, many other beneficial effects were noted such as a reduction in already formed plaques in the heart and the aorta as well as liver protective effects and a lowering of blood sugars in diabetics.

 
 
In NONE of these studies was there a mention of ANY Side Effects from the ALA!
 

So, why is it that doctors constantly prescribe dangerous ‘statin’ drugs to lower cholesterol when there are perfectly safe and natural alternatives to these drugs?
 
 
Call it Big Pharma.
 
 

Some other Natural Cholesterol Lowering Agents are:

Exercise
A Mediterranean Diet
Red Yeast Rice
Omega 3 Fatty Acids

So the next time that you are in the doctor’s office and you are prescribed a cholesterol lowering statin drug, you may want to ask your doctor about possible alternatives to these dangerous drugs. As part of your doctor’s job, he is required to inform you of the risks, benefits and alternatives of any drug that he prescribes you. However, the sad fact is that your doctor may not even KNOW about the potential dangerous effects of the statin drugs that he is prescribing and may not even know of any alternatives.
 
 

So it is  up to you to be informed of your alternatives and take action about your own health.
 
 

 
 
Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen

Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com